# problem with my hydra sm



## perry7762 (Jul 27, 2010)

ok im having a problem with my hydra sm. it wont read what my calibrated analog hydro says(yes i know anologs suck but i have calibrated it and checked it 3 times and my digis are on there way). it seems like there isnt enough adjustablilty in it. i was wondering if anyone else had a problem like this or if i was the only one. thanks


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## e-man (Jan 5, 2009)

Your hydra has a cheap hygrometer in it too, so you can't trust it any more than another hygrometer. You have two options.


1) Put the hydra in a salt test (no water cartridge), and see how far it is off, then set it accordingly.


2) Ignore the value on the hydra, and turn it up/down until your calibrated hygrometer is happy.



The real problem with active humidification is that the hygrometers often DRIFT over time. Take your calibrated hygrometer, wait 6 months and see if it reads the same in another salt test. If your active humidifier relies on a hygrometer that drifts, then your rH will drift, even though your setting never changed.

The beautiful thing about salt based humidifiers (beads, bovedas, etc) is that the laws of physics dictate the humidity, rather than a cheap electric hygrometer. However, if you have a large space, you need that extra capacity.


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## perry7762 (Jul 27, 2010)

thanks for the info. like i said, hopefully my digital hygrometer will be here today and then i can calibrate it and so on. but you would think for the money the hydra costs( paid 50 on cbid) it would have a decent hygrometer in it.


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## e-man (Jan 5, 2009)

A basic hygrometer runs $15-20...nothing special. Do the salt test and see how inaccurate they really are when they arrive. When you consider everything else the Hydra has in it, how good of a hygrometer could a $50 unit really have?

A "Decent" hygrometer will cost $1,000 and up. Luckily you don't need anything that accurate to keep cigars.


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## perry7762 (Jul 27, 2010)

very true. i ended up trying the salt test with the water cartridge off this time and we will see how it goes


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

perry7762 said:


> ok im having a problem with my hydra sm. it wont read what my calibrated analog hydro says(yes i know anologs suck but i have calibrated it and checked it 3 times and my digis are on there way). it seems like there isnt enough adjustablilty in it. i was wondering if anyone else had a problem like this or if i was the only one. thanks


Hate to be the bearer of bad news but anyone i know that has bought one has had the same problem. If your going to go that route the Oasis is the best choice.


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## tteuscher (Jul 30, 2010)

I just got a Hydra SM and am experiencing the same problem. My new humidor has 3 shelves in it so I got a seperate digital hygrometer also so I could see the humidity at each level. Thank God I did!!!

I calibrated the digital hygrometer and am now calibrating the Hydra SM to to my digital hygrometer. The Hydra SM is reading high by about 12 points. There isn't even that much adjustability on the calibration dial. I am pretty disappointed that the Hydra SM is not more adjustable and that the unit did not come pre-calibrated. I guess I will just have to live with the Hydra SM always reading 2 points high.


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## perry7762 (Jul 27, 2010)

yea i dont know what im going to do. i already tried to calibrate with a salt test and got it someone close but the two hygros i got are junk ones like 20 off with a boveda calibration bag. pretty dissapointed


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